This copy is for your personal non-commercial use only. To order presentation-ready copies of Toronto Star content for distribution to colleagues, clients or customers, or inquire about permissions/licensing, please go to: www.TorontoStarReprints.com

And they now also have a record-tying comeback they can talk about for generations of football fans in this city.

The Argos led the Stampeders 29-3 at one point and 29-10 at the half and 32-10 in the third quarter on Saturday. Nobody was quite believing what they were seeing, and the 28,607 fans at McMahon Stadium fell into stunned silence.

But the Stampeders went to work and climbed a mountain, launching a merciless attack in the second half to produce a 40-33 victory on a cool but snow-free game following a blast of winter earlier in the week.

This was the largest blown lead in Argonaut regular-season history. Before Saturday, the largest blown lead was 20 points on Aug. 18, 1962 when Toronto squandered a 20-0 advantage and lost to Hamilton 29-23.

Article Continued Below

For Calgary, the comeback tied a 27-year record for the largest comeback in franchise history.

For Argos fans, this was like a scary movie, except for the fact the killer didn’t die in the end.

Cornish led the way with two touchdowns, one on a 79-yard dash up the sideline, and the other on a 25-yard scoring pass with 1:48 left in the fourth quarter to provide the winning points.

Cornish, last year’s most outstanding player in the CFL and the Lou Marsh Trophy winner as Canada’s best athlete, rolled up 174 yards on the ground and another 35 in the air.

Turnovers — the Argos fumbled the opening kickoff for the second straight game — and undisciplined play can tear a team apart in no time at all.

A key penalty occurred late in the game with the score tied 33-33 when running back Steve Slaton was ejected for rough play after kicking a Calgary player. The momentum had swung Calgary’s way and this offered more fuel to finally lay the Argos to rest.

“I have to see it on film, but he just apologized to the team, so I’m assuming it was fairly ridiculous,” head coach Scott Milanovich said after the shocking collapse.

The Argos fell to 3-8, yet remarkably they remain solidly in playoff contention in the powder puff East. They will practise in Calgary before flying to Vancouver on Thursday to face the B.C. Lions on Friday.

The Stampeders boosted their record 10-1 and sit atop the West Division standings.

Asked how Calgary was able to mount such a second-half surge, Milanovich had no easy answers: “If I had a better answer for you, I would have stopped it.”

“You’re on the road and things start to snowball and we didn’t have enough, I don’t know if you call it leadership or not, but we just didn’t have enough to stop the momentum.”

Ricky Ray was the Ricky Ray of old in the first half, throwing four touchdown passes, but none in the second half as Calgary roared back to tie the game 33-33 in the fourth quarter.

Ray finished with 338 yards through the air, his second-highest total this season since he passed for 407 yards in Week 2.

On the winning play, Cornish took a short pass from backup quarterback Drew Tate and waltzed 25 yards through a wide-open lane and into the end zone. Hardly a hand was laid on him.

Toronto had the ball for one last drive, but Ray turned the ball over while he was being tackled from behind in the pocket and Calgary took over.

Ray said turnovers and penalties have been the “Achilles heel” for the Argos all season. Turnovers are sometimes just a result of a good play by the other team, Ray said.

“Sometimes it’s just getting lazy — not holding onto the ball and not realizing how important it is,” he said.

The penalties are about discipline and focus.

“We’re just not focusing good enough to go out there,” he added. “Until we figure out those plays are important, it’s going to be a tough battle every week to win football games.”

Ray said the team is in shock over this loss.

“We felt we had control of that game,” he said. “We hurt ourselves.”

Toronto had two fumbles and lost them both and the Argos were hit with 128 yards in penalties to only 82 for Calgary.

Calgary quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell, who suffered a knee injury and was knocked out of the game by a Shea Emry hit late in the game, threw a TD pass to Sederrik Cunningham late in the first half and another to Brad Sinopoli, the former QB out of Peterborough.

Tate entered the game and threw a 15-yard touchdown pass to Jabari Arthur over the head of new Argo Alex Suber. Cornish caught the two-point convert, allowing Calgary to tie the game.

Slaton’s rough play cost the Argos a 25-yard penalty, driving the Argos back to their own 16, facing a second-and-27. They did not make the first down. Calgary got good field possession and drove down the field for the winning Cornish TD.

Sinopoli’s touchdown was made possible by a stupid act of aggression by defensive lineman Aston Whiteside, who was penalized 15 yards for unnecessary roughness.

Midway through the final quarter, Argos receiver LaVon Brazill fumbled for the second time in the game (he fumbled the opening kickoff) and third time in three games, giving Calgary the ball at midfield. They trailed 33-25, but you knew this wasn’t how it was going to end.

The Stampeders drove down for a score and a two-point convert to tie the game 33-33.

The Argos’ performance in the first half was impressive, as receivers were wide open and Ray had only to make room service deliveries.

The Stamps looked out of synch in the opening 30 minutes. The Argos looked as if they had done their homework in the two weeks off after their 13-12 loss to Hamilton on Labour Day.

Ray completed his first nine passes to open the game.

All pre-game indications were that Calgary was going to dismantle the Argonauts piece by piece and toss the parts into the Bow River.

However, it was the Stampeders who paid the stiffest price in the body department, losing Mitchell, wide receiver Marquay McDaniel and sack-specialist Charleston Hughes to injuries.

Although the Argos escaped unscathed in the injury department, their egos and confidence took a huge hit. The best cure for the club’s bruised ego is a victory in Vancouver.

Time will tell if the Argos can pick up the pieces in less than a week.

More from the Toronto Star & Partners

LOADING

Copyright owned or licensed by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or distribution of this content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Toronto Star Newspapers Limited and/or its licensors. To order copies of Toronto Star articles, please go to: www.TorontoStarReprints.com